Azerbaijan: Where East Meets West, Spy Meets Spy

Thanks to its strategic location, the small Central Asian country of Azerbaijan has long been a hot spot for rival intelligence agents, from countries such as Russia, Turkey, Iran and Israel. Here, a view of Baku, the capital, in June 2011.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (right) meets with Azerbaijan's foreign minister, Elmar Mammadyarov (left) in Tehran in March 2011. Tensions have been growing between the countries, including a recent incident in which Tehran summoned the Azerbaijani ambassador to protest alleged Israeli intelligence activity in Azerbaijan.

Ahmad HalabisazXinhua/Landov

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Originally published on February 17, 2012 9:58 pm

The small Central Asian country of Azerbaijan has found itself caught up in the rising international tensions over neighboring Iran and its nuclear program. Despite traditional ties with Iran, the former Soviet republic has increasingly aligned itself with the West, and with Israel.

An incident at a recent soccer match in the Iranian city of Tabriz is still a point of pride in Azerbaijan. In the middle of the match, hundreds of ethnic Azeris in the crowd broke out their national flags and began to chant that the city belongs to them.

The video was a big hit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. It was a rare demonstration by Iran's ethnic Azeri minority, many of whom argue that northern Iran should be part of a greater Azerbaijan — a sentiment that is shared by many in Baku.

And that is not the only point of tension between the two Central Asian neighbors. Recently, Baku and Tehran have traded accusations of cross-border conspiracies and assassinations.

Like Norway Or Casablanca During WWII

Wedged between more powerful neighbors Russia, Turkey and Iran, Azerbaijan has long served as an East-West meeting ground and something of a den of spies where rival intelligence agents keep a close eye on one another.

Mehman Aliyev is director of Turan, an independent Azerbaijani news agency. He says that Azerbaijan realizes its position as a kind of listening post.

"Of course Azerbaijan is the intersection of many foreign states, whether it's Russia, Iran, Turkey. It is where they mingle. And where they obviously collect intelligence," he says.

Azerbaijan's role was established in the early 1980s, when it was still part of the Soviet Union. The Soviets built military installations along Azerbaijan's southern border with Iran. In Gabala in northern Azerbaijan, the Soviets built a missile early warning system and intelligence base, which remain in use today. And the local newspapers say there are two U.S. military installations now on Azerbaijani territory.

Arastun Orujlu, a former counterintelligence officer and director of the East-West Research Center in Baku, compares Azerbaijan's intelligence community to that of Norway or Casablanca during World War II.

Western and Russian agents are deployed, and Orujlu estimates that thousands of Iranian agents operate in Azerbaijan.

Orujlu says Iran's intelligence is very active in Azerbaijan, which he says acts as a "buffer zone" between Iran and Russia, as well as Iran and the West.

Blossoming Ties To Israel

According to Aliyev, the journalist, it's long been an open secret that Azerbaijan serves a purpose for Iran and for the West — including Israel, which also has intelligence agents on the ground in the country.

"Iran is trying to find out what are the military operations of the Western states intended for Iran," Aliyev says. "And of course Israel and the West [are] trying to use the opportunity of being here to find out what is happening in Iran," he says.

In fact, the Iranian state-run media recently reported that Tehran had summoned Azerbaijan's ambassador to protest alleged Israeli intelligence activity there, including allowing Israel to launch activities against Iran from Azerbaijani territory and aiding in the escape of Israeli agents Tehran says were behind the recent killings of Iranian nuclear scientists.

Israel's relationship with Azerbaijan has blossomed in recent years, fueled by lucrative military and business deals. Israel buys 30 percent of its oil from Azerbaijan, and recently awarded a lucrative gas-drilling contract off its Mediterranean coast to an Azerbaijani firm.

Orujlu says that the ties between Azerbaijanis and Israel have grown so deep, that in the event of an Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, many Azerbaijanis would side with Israel.

But some feel that all that could change in the case of an actual war, especially if it included attacks on areas inhabited by Iran's ethnic Azeris.

Ilgar Ibrahimoglu is imam of the Juma mosque in a suburb of Baku with a large Iranian population. He says that phobia of Iran has been increasingly encouraged in Azerbaijan.

"Every Azerbaijani," he says, "understands that this war will affect Azeris in Iran and holy sites there."

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

And I'm Melissa Block. The small, central Asian nation of Azerbaijan is in a tough spot. It's found itself caught up in the rising international tensions over neighboring Iran and its nuclear program. Despite historic ties with Iran, Azerbaijan, a former Soviet Republic, has increasingly aligned itself with the West and with Israel.

Sheera Frenkel was recently in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku. She sent this report.

SHEERA FRENKEL, BYLINE: The incident at this soccer match in the Iranian city of Tabriz is still a point of pride in Azerbaijan. In the middle of the match, hundreds of ethnic Azeris in the crowd break out their national flag and begin to chant that the city belongs to them. The video was a big hit in Baku.

It was a rare demonstration by Iran's ethnic Azeri minority, many of whom argue that northern Iran should be part of a greater Azerbaijan, a sentiment that is shared by many here in Baku. And that's not the only point of tension between the two central Asian neighbors.

Recently, Baku and Tehran have traded accusations across border conspiracies and assassinations. Wedged between more powerful neighbors, Russia, Iran and Turkey, Azerbaijan has long served as an East-West meeting ground and something of a den of spies where rival intelligence agents keep a close eye on one another.

Mehman Aliyev is director of the independent news agency Turan. He says that Azerbaijan realizes its position as a kind of listening post.

MEHMAN ALIYEV: (Through Translator) Of course, Azerbaijan is the intersection of many foreign states, whether it's Russia, Iran, Turkey. It's where they mingle and where they obviously collect intelligence.

FRENKEL: Azerbaijan's role was established in the early 1980s when it was still part of the Soviet Union. Soviet military installations were built along the southern border with Iran. In Gabala, an early missile warning system and intelligence base was built by the Russian army and remains in use until today. And the local newspapers say there are also two U.S. military installations now on Azerbaijani territory.

Dr. Arastun Orujlu is a former counter-intelligence officer and the director of the East-West Research Center and Orujlu estimates that thousands of Iranian agents operate in Azerbaijan.

ARASTUN ORUJLU: Intelligence activity of Iran is also very high in Azerbaijan to keep Azerbaijan in this situation of buffer zone between Iran and Russia, between Iran and the West.

FRENKEL: Aliyev says it's long been an open secret that Azerbaijan serves a purpose for Iran and for the West, including Israel, which also has intelligence agents on the ground here.

ALIYEV: (Through Translator) Iran is trying to find out what other military operations of the Western states intended for Iran and, of course, Israel and the west are trying to use the opportunity of being here to find out what is happening in Iran.

FRENKEL: Israel's relationship with Azerbaijan has blossomed in recent years, fueled by lucrative military and business deals. Israel buys 30 percent of its oil from Azerbaijan and recently awarded a lucrative gas drilling contract off its Mediterranean coast to an Azerbaijani firm.

Orujlu says that the ties between Azerbaijanis and Israel have grown so deep that in the event of an Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, many here would side with Israel. But some feel that all that could change in the case of an actual war, especially if it included attacks on areas inhabited by Iran's ethnic Azeris.

Ilgar Ibrahimoglu is imam of the Juma mosque in a suburb of Boku with a large Iranian population. He says that phobia of Iran has increasingly encouraged in Azerbaijan.

ILGAR IBRAHIMOGLU: (Through Translator) Every Azerbaijani understands that this war will affect Azeris in Iran and holy sites there.

FRENKEL: The imam says that people here understand that a war in Iran will have repercussions. For NPR News, I'm Sheera Frenkel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.